routlaw

Point well taken, and great info. I do run quite a bit lighter than you but still. Presumably the flat was on the Ollie and not your Silverado surely? Scary stuff. Likewise I keep a TPMS on ours too, monitors heat and pressure.

Ah the beauty of a big diesel engine when it comes to engine braking. All that compression truly becomes helpful on these steep descents. A definite disadvantage for gas engines especially the 6 cylinders, turbo boost or not. A couple of years ago I learned this lesson all too well while going over Teton Pass dropping down to Jackson. By the time I was halfway down my then 2013 Ecoboost and Ollie brakes were all smoking. Even 2nd gear was not much use on a 10% grade that runs for about 10 miles. Not something I would ever like to repeat. We were not the only ones that day smoking brakes either. A fifth wheel just in front of us being pulled by a 3/4 ton truck was also in trouble and had to make an emergency pull over. Thus my caution on the Million Dollar Highway.

This is what I keep hearing from some YouTube videos. Might be a better route on my return trip vs on the way south.

Thanks @Mike and Carol all helpful info. When I get down that way just might try both routes just to experience it all. Surprised CO actually plows this route in the winter. Our roughly equivalent Beartooth Highway up in this neck of the woods certainly doesn’t. It’s closed for over half the year. Love Durango, nice town.

You are not the only ones who have opted for the alternate route via 145 for the same reason. I have been to Delores in the past but don't recall the market but will certainly look for it if there again. Have an old forest service friend who lives there too. I understand CO 145 is also very pretty as well.

Anyone here ever done this? Planning another trip to the SW and would like to explore more of CO and this road trip is on the bucket list but given the steep grades and descents not sure a half ton with 6 cylinder Ecoboost engine will provide enough engine braking compared to an 8 cylinder or diesel. Curious to hear what others have to say or have experienced. Thanks Rob

FWIW, Costco sells 20 lb tanks with a built in gauge. I have only one but it seems to work well enough. Like most things they have had a price increase recently but locally they are running around $42.

I've never heard of a carbon fiber frame for RV's but given that thousands of road and mountain bikes are made from this material and given how they are ridden most likely a frame made of the same material would hold up well too. It's expensive to make, so one has to take that into consideration as well, meaning the price of admission for an RV made partly or whole with CC could become very pricey. Not that the Olivers are chump change, far from it.

Well for sure CO can be an entirely different story and also WY to a less degree depending on what part of the state. Most of MT is around a mile high elevation and that combined with being above the 45th parallel makes a big difference. But on top of that the western part of the state seems to sit in some voodoo vortex with the jet stream thus some highly unpredictable weather at times that can change on a dime.

Hi Mary, while I don't have an answer for your direct question regarding cooling I can suggest you most likely will not need it in Montana in August. FWIW have lived here for nearly half a century without AC and have never turned our existing AC on with our Ollie #70. Never not once. We are already seeing cooler nighttime temps this past week, last night being around 50 degrees. Assuming your are planning on traveling to the western mountainous part of the state (most people do) its unlikely you would ever need to turn your AC on. More likely turning your furnace on to take the chill off after waking up. Thus far we have had a rather mild summer with no excessive heat but Montana weather can be unpredictable. I have even seen it snow in August, not often, but it can happen. Not sure where you are traveling from but if you can make it through those areas without adding to or changing your current AC most likely you'll be fine once you arrive here in MT. Hope this helps.

@dewdev no idea what the fuse is for but allow me to add the following. On my wiring at the trailer plug the hot charge wire is black and assuming yours is the same (worth checking out) why would they change from black to red? Perhaps this is not your charging wire from TV. Also jd123 makes a good point in an earlier other thread, disconnecting at only one end still leaves the wire potentially a hot wire. IOW's disconnecting at both ends might be a better scenario. Now if I could only find my own charge wire that would be great. I still think the best method is to eliminate the charge at the source, that being the fuses (assuming they are there) pulled on the tow vehicle. Unfortunately for my new truck this part is also a mystery that even Ford mechanics don't seem to be privy to.

Amazing how different each Oliver is from year to year. On my 2015 #70 it doesn't even look remotely like any of these pics.

Awesome, glad you got it worked out ok. Bluetooth can be finicky for sure, makes sense.

Nice

Agree with jd1923, call Epoch. There is a guy there named Steven who seems to be the expert in tech support. I would also at least check the voltage with a meter on the two batteries to see if they are both at the same charge voltage before calling. If not then you might have a bigger problem than an errant Bluetooth issue. Email request take forever to get a response at Epoch or at least this has been my experience.

Haven't been there yet. We were close back in the spring at Colorado National Monument and discussed going down there and now wish we had. Campground host at CNM were headed there for there next duty within the next week or so. Great loss.

Thought I would check back in after our first towing/camping trip with the new Powerboost F150 for those of you who might be interested or new comers considering this truck for a tow vehicle. I'll cut to the chase and state thus far I have been astonished not only by the trucks capability but also the gas mileage both in tow mode as well as untethered. On our trip down to Yellowstone this past week we averaged just a tad over 13 mpg, all uphill or nearly so. The return trip we were hitting at 18.5 mpg mostly downhill other than 4 formidable hills north of West Yellowstone, but speed limits through the canyon are mostly 55 mph with occasional periods of 60 mph and I kept the truck at the speed limit. Driving untethered in the park we were obtaining as much as 42 mpg from the Canyon area back to West Yellowstone and on a second trip to the Canyon area 36 mpg but we encountered quite a bit of headwinds on the second excursion. Granted speed limits in the park are only 45-35 mph which helps, but still incredible for a half ton truck loaded with bikes, cameras, Yeti ice chest, various other gear etc. In Eco Mode while driving around town back home I am seeing around 24 mpg on short trips. While racking up some miles before towing (1000 minimum suggested) the truck averaged 28 mpg in Eco Mode traveling from Bozeman to Ennis down the Madison River Valley over to Quake and Hebgen Lake then down the canyon past Big Sky. All in with just over 1700 miles, towing, in town and highway just a sliver less than 21 mpg for system not broken in yet. That's the good news, now the not so good news depending on one's disposition. These new vehicles are very complex and technical beast and while I am fortunate enough to be technically inclined there are a lot of folks who are not. For those people vehicles such as this can be very overwhelming and intimidating. Many of the features can mostly or partly be ignored, but a lot of them cannot which could be a very frustrating experience for some people. The adaptive cruise control is awesome but thus far have not appreciated the lane assist nearly as much. Our 2017 Subaru is much better at this task than the F150. I simply don't trust it on winding, curvy mountain roads and turn it off. The free trial of Blue Cruise has been somewhat of a mixed bag, and like the lane assist seems to struggle with tight curves but is fine on wide sweeping curves and straight interstate highways. Given the cost of this feature it's unlikely I will pay for it beyond the initial 90 trial period. It's my understanding GMC has produced a much better version of this feature than Ford. When it works, it's great but I would be lying if I didn't say it feels downright weird at times hands free driving. The tires (Hankook AT) Ford installs on these ridiculously expensive trucks suck, period. They are round and roll down the road but thats about it. The reviews of this tire concur. Ford, what were you thinking? Enough for now thanks for all the input and info leading to this. Rob

Interesting, never heard of the EMS and my #70 certainly does not have one installed. @tallmandan sort of figured this is where the 7 pin cable entered into the cabin but did not want to open up that can worms at the time so took the easier route by disconnecting at the exterior plug thanks to @Mike and Carol suggestion.

Never mind the blower I am jealous of all you folks with the hangers to keep trailer in and work on. 😆

Got it, now if I could only find the other end, would also disconnect it too. Still like the idea of removing fuses from the TV though, the simplest and cleanest of all the disconnects to my way of thinking.

Thanks, this is exactly what I just did, except for using a wire nut. Worked great. Didn't check with voltmeter but all is working perfectly. Typically ground is white and hot or + is either black or red and polar opposites within the circle of contacts.

Thanks for the tip @Mike and Carol good idea however I approached a bit different. Like you said easy enough to get the boot off the wiring harness. Turns out I had several corroded connections once inside the plug. Cleaned those, then unscrewed the black terminal wire from its connection, put a wire nut on black wire, bent it backwards into the boot which should take care of the situation. More than one way to skin a cat.

Interesting @jd1923 as I cannot find a bus bar that looks anything like that. The only bus bar I have found other than the ones in the breaker panel have all yellow wires running to them. Nothing at all with black wires, especially ones with inline fuses. Is your picture upside down?

With new truck and new Lithium battery trying to figure out a way of disconnecting the charging circuit from the TV. I don't have an electrical schematic for our #70 Ollie and since Ford has been no help in determining what if any fuses are associated with this task figured I might as well tackle this from the receiving end of things. The question then, how does one determine what wire (color) and where to make this disconnect within the trailer? Presumably the wire in question would be terminated in the breaker panel box but nothing is labeled accordingly on my unit. Or does the TV charge wire go straight to the solar charge controller? I wouldn't think so but does't hurt to ask. Thanks

Finally received delivery on the 3rd, turns out my payload capacity is 1285. Not great but should be able to work with it. It has the moonroof, max tow pkg, and 4X off road pkg, came with factory tonneau cover all which add to the load. Now that I have installed Li-ON battery I would like to eliminate the charge for the new TV but there is nothing in the manual that specifically states what fuse and or relay fuse is used for this. On my older 2013 it was #9 & 21 for the relay and fuse. Anyone else know anything about which fuse to remove to eliminate the charge to the trailer? There are a few fuses related to the trailer but most them are marked for various lights, brakes etc the other noted as #8 just states Trailer Tow 1 rated at 30A. I suspect #8 is the one I am after but would like confirmation before pulling. Thanks in advance if anyone has insight on this.